SEEING LIVES TOUCHED AND CHANGED FOREVER BY THE POWER OF GOD. MARK 9:23

Evangelization play in reconciliation; giving our lives in this way is "reasonable Romans 12:1-2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
 
If a person drinks in the spirit of Paul's doctrinal teaching, he or she will present his body a living sacrifice and renew the spirit of his mind. Thus, outwardly and inwardly he will be on his way toward God's ideal for human conduct. All the virtues produced from this change will begin to grow and manifest themselves in his life. Self-surrender and its companion, self-control, are inseparable parts of this command.

Can those of us caught up in this web of interconnection dream of being drawn more closely and deeply into the ties that bind us?  Will we, like Jesus, pray for the fellow on the next cross, and the ones who set the cross into the earth? “It is only together as the Body of Christ that we can hope to find healing, reconciliation, and genuine and lasting peace.”

The church’s role must be about proclaiming the good news of God’s creative encouragement of new possibility, about engendering hope, and proclaiming the vision of abundant life for all God’s creatures.

Christians are not distinguished from other men by country, language, nor by the customs which they observe. [They do not inhabit cities of their own, use a particular way of speaking, nor lead a life marked out by any curiosity. The course of conduct they follow has not been devised by the speculation and deliberation of inquisitive men. They do not, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of merely human doctrines.

Instead, they inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, however things have fallen to each of them. And it is while following the customs of the natives in clothing, food, and the rest of ordinary life that they display to us their wonderful and admittedly striking way of life.]

They live in their own countries, but they do so as those who are just passing through. As citizens they participate in everything with others, yet they endure everything as if they were foreigners. Every foreign land is like their homeland to them, and every land of their birth is like a land of strangers.

They marry, like everyone else, and they have children, but they do not destroy their offspring.

They share a common table, but not a common bed.

They exist in the flesh, but they do not live by the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, all the while surpassing the laws by their lives.

They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death and restored to life.

They are poor, yet make many rich. They lack everything, yet they overflow in everything.

They are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor they are glorified; they are spoken ill of and yet are justified; they are reviled but bless; they are insulted and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if raised from the dead. They are assailed by the Jews as barbarians; they are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to give any reason for their hatred.

Our hope is based on the reconciling love of God – and reconciliation requires vulnerability. 

Reconciliation just might require sitting in the trenches long enough to hear the song of other human beings, both lament at what is lost and yearning for what might be.  Reconciliation requires sitting in the mud, knowing despair and depravity, and daring to dream of a different future.  When we know the depths of our helplessness, that we are made of dirt and cannot ultimately save ourselves or fix the emptiness, we just might begin to welcome the stranger as an essential part of our own salvation.  When that recognition begins to be mutual, reconciliation becomes possible.

The hard work of reconciliation requires an openness or vulnerability to being transformed.  We won’t experience a different outcome or a shift in the status quo without that vulnerability. Our own efforts at reconciliation must echo or imitate that same relinquishment of power, privilege, and fixity of position. Reconciliation here is going to require dreaming that emerging future and moving toward those we see as enemies.   Reconciling work creates a different future, something that would never have existed without the tension that called forth our journey across that boundary of fear.In the darkest time of crucifixion, as Jesus hung on the cross, feeling abandoned, God was still at work.  The creative and unexpected response to that particular entrenchment is what we call resurrection. Our task is to continue to plant and nurture hope in the face , our shared yearning for a meaningful place in this life, the hopes we have for our children and the world around us.  No one, no other, is beyond God’s love – or else we are all beyond that possibility.  Today, we are to consider the “works of mercy”.  It is at the very heart of our search to see the face of Christ as the face of compassion, the embrace of mercy the caress of the Nazarene in the incompleteness and need of life itself. We know them from our earliest days and from reading Matthew 25  the dramatic and powerful scene of the final judgment.
            Feed the hungry (Mt 25:35)
             Give drink to the thirsty (Mt 25:35)
             Clothe the naked (Mt 25:36)
             Welcome the Stranger (Mt 25:35)
             Visit the Sick (Mt 25:36)     
             Visit the Imprisoned (Mt 25:36)
             Bury the dead (Tobit 1:17 & 12:12).
Similarly the “spiritual works of mercy” enable us to accompany those with spiritual lack:
            From the standpoint of vigilance
• counsel the doubtful;
• instruct the ignorant;
• admonish sinners
From the standpoint of reconciliation
• comforting the afflicted
• forgiving offenses willingly
• bearing wrongs patiently
From the standpoint of including all of the above
• prayer, focused on asking God on behalf of the living and the dead

That is what it means to run to the empty tomb; that is the direction of more abundant and resurrected life.  May resurrection begin again in this place, in the hearts of these blessed people – and in the hearts of those

May God bless you and may we walk together on this beautiful journey! I am asking the assembly to pray for faith enough to dream that God’s creative possibility might yet emerge in the business of the ministry and honour what God put together.

Prayer: Father, we come to You at this time and ask that everyone of us might look into our hearts and be sure that we have been reconciled to God. Thank You for giving all of us the ministry of reconciliation. Thank You that You have not only reconciled us but called us to cry to others, "Be ye reconciled to God, it is available, it is possible, God has made a way." And we cry that to sinners here this morning who have not been reconciled and we ask, O God, that You would prompt their hearts to believe and to repent, turning from their sin and saying, "I want forgiveness for my sin, I want the hope of heaven, I want God in my life, I want to be reconciled." O Father, I just pray that Your Holy Spirit will work that marvelous miracle of reconciliation in hearts today. And we thank You for bearing our sin and for letting us bear Your righteousness. This is all overwhelming and we are unworthy, but grateful. Speak, Father, to those hearts who do not know the Savior, who have not been reconciled and draw them to Yourself. And may they have confidence in the words of Jesus who said, "Him that comes to Me I'll never turn aside." And we ask that sinners might come today and in faith embrace the righteousness provided for them by the one who bore their sin. We thank You in Christ's name. Amen.

I believed God's calling in the midst of mystery, frustration, confusion, and hope. And at the tender age of 14 following God's calling I accepted the challenge to be a evangelical preacher. How I got through the challenges of Bible training, learning the Scriptures, learning the whole chapter, I recall my first public prayer to overcome peer pressure, lust, passion, girls, homelessness and addiction; I got through it all with prayers to God for help and guidance, strength and love, I got through it with Study and Old-time Negro Preaching. 

This year marks 45 years as a servant traveling to deliver the Gospel message. I have learned a few things over those years, but one thing far outweighs the rest and that is the importance of “community.” God is calling all of us: to love others, to care for the poor, ... and it's laid out for us in the Bible.

God who promised me is faithful to fulfil it. As a servant stepping into my 46TH year of Kingdom Work; God is working behind the scenes to bring His purposes about!

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As I step into another year. Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow or turning.  James 1:17  

I thank God our Creator for my 58 years prayer life filled faith, hope, and love and all of my blessings and this my prayer; asking for another year filled with God’s presence in my prayer life, faith, hope, and love that I may continue to grow in God’s loving grace. Most importantly I stand on what God have promised to be with me to conquer and defeat Exodus 23:20.  

As I move forward to my 59th year life: more than mere survival, but real life and that more abundantly, John 10:10  happy moments, days when dreams come true, and a year that's filled with all the things that mean the most to me. To touch everyone’s heart and open it to love; be an example, an inspiration showing others and guiding to the light, love and hope; to carry the light of God inside. Proverbs 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.” 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 Gracious God my Creator God, I do not know what lies ahead for me this year. Yet I know that You are holding my future in Your hand. Let my ways be pleasing to you. As You have promised, be with me, Lord. Grid me with Your strength and grace so that I can live for Your light. Enable me to draw closer to You that I may walk in your peace and be the creative and loving person that you intend for me to be. 

Gracious God my Creator I turn my attention to the Guardian Angels, Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones Isaiah 6:1–7, Dominions, Virtues and  Powers Colossians 1:16,  Principalities, Archangels and Angels 1 Peter 3:21-22 to receive the Angelic support for cleansing and consecrating, spiritual growth for my highest good to live victoriously, master of my own emotions and feelings, bring mental and emotional health and in the purposes of God. Matthew 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. I ask for giant warrior angels to protect me.Psalm 34: 7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Psalm 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

The Angel that goes before me Genesis 24:7 

The Angel that is sent with me Genesis 24:44

The Angel of the way Numbers 22:22 

The Angel of the wonderous things Judges 13:19 

The Angel of wisdom 2nd Samuel 14:20 

The Angel that cuts off the enemy 2nd Chronicles 32:21 

The Angel of his presence Isaiah 63:9 

The Angel that stands by me Zechariah 3:5

The Angel over fear Luke 1:13 

The Angel Gabriel Luke 1; 26

The Angel of healing blessings John 5:4 

The Angel of Deliverance Acts 5:19

Psalm 103:20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments,  hearkening unto the voice of his word. I praise God for all of His heavenly angels. I ask this and all things in the sure and certain knowledge of your love for me and for all your people. Amen.